1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to flashlights capable of turning a bulb on and off in accordance with turning of the head thereof in right and left direction, and more particularly to a miniature hand-held flashlight having a rotary type device for turning the bulb on and off in accordance with the rotation of the head with respect to the casing irrespective of the rotational direction, thereby accomplishing the convenience in usage and the simplicity of the construction thereof, lengthening the using life thereof by virtue of reduction of trouble by virtue of simplicity of the construction.
2. Description of The Prior Art
Although miniature flashlights have long been known in the art, it is only been recently, with the development of miniature flashlight having a device for turning the bulb "on" and "off".
Conventionally, such a known miniature flashlight comprises a device for turning the bulb on and off and a cylindrical casing for holding the batteries such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,336 which is referred to this invention as the prior art in conjunction with the drawing, FIG. 5.
As shown in the drawing, the miniature flashlight is provided with a head assembly 2 and a casing 3. The head assembly 2 comprises a head 2' and a head cap 1, screwed with the outer threaded front end of the head 2' at its inner threaded rear end. The head 2' is screwed with the outer threaded front portion of the casing 3 at its inner threaded rear portion. Also, the head assembly 2 carries a reflector insert 6 closely disposed between the head 2' and the head cap 1, said reflector insert 6 carrying a standard flashlight bulb 11 at rear center portion thereof. Abutted to the rear portion of the reflector insert 6 is a movable member 4 which is movable in accordance with the displacement of the head assembly by virtue of the turning actuation thereof. The movable member 4 is connected to a contact member 5 which is movably disposed at the inside of the front portion of the casing 3 and has a first contact terminal 5', adapted to contact with a positive electrode 8 of the battery 7 which is elastically biased by a coiled spring (not shown) provided at the rear portion of the casing 3, and a second contact terminal 10 for being selectively contacted to a negative electrode 9 of the casing 3. Thus, the movable member 4 and the contact member 5, engaging with each other, are elastically supported by the spring in order to be disposed between the reflector insert 6 and the battery 7.
At this state, the head assembly 2 is gradually rotated with respect to the casing 3 in a direction, for example in right direction, in order to be tightened as moving toward the rear portion of the casing 3 as shown at the phantom line A of the drawing. Hence, the reflector insert 6, closely disposed between the head cap 1 and the head 2', moves toward the casing 3 so that the movable member 4 and the contact member 5 engaging with each other move toward the casing 3, resulting in coming off the second contact terminal 10 of the contact member 5 from the negative electrode 9 of the casing 3 so as to turn off the bulb 11.
On the other hand, if the head assembly 2 is released as rotated in reversed direction, for example in left direction, in order to move forwards in accompanying with forward movement of the reflector insert 6, as shown at the phantom line B or the solid line C of the drawing, the movable member 4 and the contact member 5 of the flashlight move forwardly so that the second contact terminal 10 contacts with the negative electrode 9 of the casing 3, resulting in turning on the bulb 11.
Thus, turning the bulb 11 of the above miniature flashlight on and off is accomplished by rotating the head assembly 2 thereof with respect to the casing 3 in forward or reversed direction.
However, the above flashlight has disadvantages in that it needs repeated actuation for rotating the head assembly 2 with respect to the casing 3 in forward or reversed direction for turning the bulb 11 on and off, thereby causing inconvenience in usage therefor. Also, the flashlight is provided with the movable member 4 and the contact member 5, each provided as a movable member, so that it needs auxiliary elements for supporting the members 4 and 5 to move in place, thereby causing the construction of the device for turning on-off the flashlight. Thus, the flashlight has another disadvantages in that there is a difficulty in manufacturing the flashlight and also the using life thereof is relatively short due to frequent trouble resulting from the member of the elements.
Also, the flashlight is often used as if it was a candle such as at a campsite. At this time, the head cap 1 is removed so as to widen the lightening angle thereof, so that the rotation of the head 2' can not allow the reflector insert 6 to move backwardly due to the removal of the head cap 1, tightly supporting the reflector insert 6 at the front portion of the flashlight, thereby causing the bulb 11 turned on not to be turned off. Thus, the flashlight has another disadvantage in that in case of removal of the head cap 1 it needs to engage the head cap 1 with the casing 3 for turning the bulb 11 off.